Douglas Carswell's Blog

Have we heard of Merlin before?

Anyone who has read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged might be forgiven for thinking they’ve heard of today's Merlin agreement before. 

Under the Merlin deal between big bankers and big government, banks will have to give credit. Their lending targets are to be monitored by the Bank of England. 

In the novel, I seem to remember a bank owner, Midas Mulligan, was similarly ordered to extend credit. Lending was made on the basis of perceived need, rather than the willingness of those with savings to risk their wealth in return for possible reward.

Why does anyone suppose that having the government ration credit is going to make credit any more plentiful?  It’s never worked out that way with any other form of state rationing before.

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